SLSL Succession of the Criminally Insane (was Has anyone seen a Pynchon book lately?)

[davemarc]

> <<"(...) that succession of the criminally insane who
> have enjoyed power since 1945.">>
>
This is actually a favorite of mine, valid considering the activities and
mindsets of world leadership in this post-Holocaust, post-Hiroshima era of
rocketry.  And, coincidentally, it's also consistent with what Kurt Vonnegut
has said and written recently about "psychopathic personalities" or "smart,
personable people who have no conscience" who enjoy power. (I think it may
be very significant that Pynchon chose the word "enjoy" rather than "held.")

"P.Ps," Vonnegut states, "are fully aware of how much suffering their
actions will inflict on others but do not care.  They cannot care."

He continues:  "The classic medical text about how such attractive leaders
bring us into unspeakable calamities is 'The Mask of Sanity' by Dr. Hervey
Cleckley."

Elsewhere Vonnegut describes a scenario that reminds me of Frenesi's dilemma
in Vineland:  "Again, as Cleckley says, these people are around and do rise.
Women are attracted to them.  I mean, this is a defect, but women are
attracted to them because they are so confident.  They really don't give a
fuck what happens--not even to themselves.  But this is a serious defect
and, no, we haven't been invaded and conquered by Martians.  We have been
conquered by psychopathic personalities who are attractive."

d.